Specialist teams to tackle post-pandemic school speech therapy backlog
The Government will deploy specialist teams to primary schools to tackle the backlog of children waiting for speech and language therapy since the pandemic.
It is hoped earlier targeted support will help those who struggle to talk and understand words before problems escalate.
More than 40,000 children had been waiting 12 weeks or more for speech and language therapy as of June 2024, the Department for Education said.
A lack of early identification can have a devastating impact on children's social skills, attendance, and academic performance.
The Government has backed the Early Language Support for Every Child (Elsec) programme with £3.4 million funding this year, which it said will benefit up to 20,000 more children.
Early intervention is particularly important for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), as numbers have skyrocketed from 1.3 million in 2020 to 1.67 million in 2024 – with one in four of these children requiring extra help with speech and language.
Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell said: 'When challenges with speech and language go unnoticed, it can have a devastating impact on children's attainment, attendance, social abilities and future life chances.
'Elsec is turning this around for so many pupils – and particularly those with Send – helping them find their voice and thrive at school and with their friends and family.
'This type of approach is exactly what we want to see in a reformed Send system that delivers the support children need at the earliest stage and restores parents' trust in a system which has let them down for too long.'
Steve Jamieson, chief executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, said: 'We're delighted that the Department for Education and NHS England will fund the Early Language Support for Every Child programme until March 2026.
'It has shown that when speech and language therapists, therapy support workers and education staff work together, they can identify children's needs earlier and put timely support in place.'
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News24
10 hours ago
- News24
It's the ‘Donald disease' that's making us sick
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Other key populations are gay and bisexual men, transgender people, people who inject drugs, and, in Africa, also young women between the ages of 15 and 24. Because so many new HIV infections happen in these groups, the US government's Aids fund, Pepfar, has, for the past decades, invested most of its funds in programmes working with these groups. But the 12 specialised clinics for key populations, supported by the US government's Aids fund, Pepfar, have now been shut down. Gone, too, are their health workers specially trained in how to work without discrimination. Gone is their tailor-made HIV treatment and testing services; their specialised mental health support; and the condoms and lubricants they handed out for protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Gone are the two-monthly anti-HIV jabs and that some of these clinics handed out as part of studies — and the daily anti-HIV pills, which they distributed without any judgement. 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The difficulty with state clinics and key populations Government clinics are mostly not geared towards key populations, because they serve everyone. And because many health workers' own prejudices so often interfere with the way in which they treat patients such as sex workers, gay and bisexual men, or teens who ask for condoms or PrEP, such groups frequently feel uncomfortable to use state health services. Stigma and discrimination in public clinics — doled out by security guards, cleaners, health workers and patients in waiting rooms — keep people away from HIV treatment and prevention. Researchers who surveyed over 9 000 people in key populations found that less than half, and in some cases not even a quarter, said they were treated well; about one in five said they were blocked from getting services. Motsoaledi says he's trying to fix that by now training 1 012 clinicians and 2 377 non-clinician workers at government facilities in non-discriminatory healthcare. 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We are scared to go to the government clinic to treat sexually transmitted infections because we are seen as dirty people who go and sleep around. We even struggle to get condoms. We are now forced to do business without protection because it is only our source of income and it's the way that we put food on the table. My worry now is that I am pregnant and my child is going to be infected because I'm not taking my ARVs, and I have defaulted for two months now.' READ | Elon Musk's estranged trans daughter, Vivian, makes bold modelling debut Transgender woman: 'The future is dark' 'I'm a transgender woman. My pronouns are she.' 'When the clinic closed, I was about to run out of medication so I went to the government clinic in my area. I introduced myself to the receptionist and the lady asked me what kind of treatment I was taking. 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But when I went to the nearest clinic, I was told that I needed to get a transfer letter. So, I ended up sharing medication with friends. But then their medication also ran out. 'Then I got a job on the farm. Before the mobile clinics came to the farms and we had our clinical sessions there. The nurse was there, the social worker was there. Now we went to the clinic and spent the whole day there because we had to follow the queues. And because our jobs were not permanent jobs, you know, you just get a job if you apply by the gate. So, if you are not there by the gate on that day, then the boss will automatically think that you are no longer interested in the job, so they employ someone else. 'I went to the government clinic and asked to get at least three months' supply. But the clinic said no because it was my first initiation, so I had to come back. So, I went back to the farm to see if I could still have my job. 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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Government promises quicker A&E times under plan to help end corridor care
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Ministers have also set an ambition for a minimum of 78% of patients who attend A&E (up from the current 75%) to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, meaning 'over 800,000 people a month will receive more timely care'. There will also be a focus on seeing more children. The Government wants to slash the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for a hospital bed – or to be discharged from A&E – so this occurs 'less than 10% of the time', according to the new document. Around 1.7 million attendances at A&E every year currently exceed this time frame. Further measures in the plan are intended to drive down delayed discharges from hospital, which occur when people are medically fit to leave but care in their homes or community has not yet been put in place. Local performance targets will be set to improve patient discharge times, and 'eliminate internal discharge delays of more than 48 hours in all settings', the plan said. Experts said A&E 'league tables' will be published to drive up performance. Those patients who need an overnight emergency admission will also have their overall stay reduced where appropriate – the average is 'currently nearly a day longer than in 2019'. The plan further sets out how ambulance waiting times for category 2 patients – such as those suffering stroke, heart attack, sepsis or major trauma – will be cut by more than 14%, from 35 to 30 minutes. A previous target of 18 minutes has been repeatedly missed. In the document, there is an aim to 'eradicate' last winter's lengthy ambulance handover delays by meeting a maximum 45-minute target for patients to be handed over to A&E. This should help 'get 550,000 more ambulances back on the road for patients', it says. According to the document, around 40 new same day emergency care and urgent treatment centres will also be established to treat and discharge patients the same day, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital. Almost 500 new ambulances will also be rolled out across the country by March 2026. The plan details 15 mental health crisis assessment centres, which are designed to ensure mentally ill people do not have to wait in A&E for hours for care. It comes after the NHS experienced a crisis over winter, with patients waiting hours for beds and regularly being treated in corridors – so-called corridor care. A&E waiting time targets have not been met for more than a decade, while the 18-minute target for category 2 ambulance calls has never been hit outside the pandemic. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: 'No patient should ever be left waiting for hours in hospital corridors or for an ambulance which ought to arrive in minutes. 'We can't fix more than a decade of underinvestment and neglect overnight. 'But through the measures we're setting out today, we will deliver faster and more convenient care for patients in emergencies. 'Far too many patients are ending up in A&E who don't need or want to be there, because there isn't anywhere else available. 'Because patients can't get a GP appointment, which costs the NHS £40, they end up in A&E, which costs around £400 – worse for patients and more expensive for the taxpayer. 'The package of investment and reforms we are announcing today will help the NHS treat more patients in the community, so they don't end up stuck on trolleys in A&E.' Under the plans, paramedics will play a bigger role in the community, with patients given 'more effective treatment at the scene of an accident or in their own homes from ambulance crews'. More patients will also be seen by urgent community response teams in their own homes to try to avoid hospital admission. The NHS is also pledging better use of virtual wards, where patients are monitored by hospital staff from their home, and there are plans to drive up vaccination rates among NHS staff to help protect patients. Royal College of Emergency Medicine president Dr Adrian Boyle said: 'There is some good and some bad – but we wholeheartedly welcome the commitment to publish A&E performance data for each and every hospital and we thank NHS England and the Department of Health for heeding our recommendation. 'In this plan, for possibly the first time, NHS England acknowledges the shameful situation being experienced by patients and clinicians across the country's emergency departments – and that must be commended. 'However, some parts lack ambition – for example accepting that 10% of people will face A&E waits of more than 12 hours, when no patient should. 'Also maintaining the four-hour standard at 78% when the stated aim is that 95% of patients should move through the emergency department within this time – something which hasn't happened for a decade.' He said there were also concerns about how the maximum 45-minute ambulance handover will be achieved 'without exposing patients to risk and increasing overcrowding in our departments'. Association of Ambulance Chief Executives managing director Anna Parry said: 'We are particularly heartened to see the plan's emphasis on the reduction and improved management of hospital handover delays. 'Handover delays have the greatest detrimental impact on ambulance resources and create unnecessary delays and additional harm for thousands of patients each year. 'The elimination of corridor care and the focus on reducing 12-hour waits at emergency departments is also welcomed.' The Liberal Democrats claimed the Government had listened to their calls to end corridor care, but called on ministers to follow through on their promises. Lib Dem health spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: 'Patients have heard these kinds of promises before only to be led up the garden path. 'We can't bear any more of the shameful neglect and failed delivery that we saw for a decade under the Conservatives. 'It's good to see ministers finally listen to Liberal Democrat demands to end corridor care but the misery in our A&Es will only be prolonged if they continue to move at a snail's pace on social care. 'Until they grasp this nettle, millions are at risk of dangerously long waits in A&E. 'They must see sense and conclude their review into social care by the end of this year.'
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Bloomberg
This Isn't How You ‘Restore Gold Standard' Science
In another attempt to concentrate power, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to 'restore gold standard science' in federal research and policy. It sounds reasonable given the instances of bad or faked science being published, including high-profile papers on Alzheimer's drug development and one misleadingly claiming that hydroxychloroquine would cure Covid-19. In the last decade, scientists themselves have grown concerned about the large number of studies whose promising results couldn't be replicated. However, researchers dedicated to reforming their field say the president's plan isn't a solution. It's a way to give government officials the power to reject evidence they disagree with — without any accountability or transparency.
